Revision
by Lynse
Summary: Maddie can't deny it any longer. If ectoplasm can become blood, there's more to this story than she ever realized. Sequel to Shift
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A sequel to my one-shot, _Shift_ , but posted as a separate story because it's an optional sequel; _Shift_ stands well on its own. This is just how things could have developed, given the circumstances of that story. As always, standard disclaimers apply. And happy Dannyversary!

* * *

Maddie stood frozen as her son deactivated the bonds on the examination table, releasing the ghost she'd been examining. He hugged the phantom to his chest, heedless of the ectoplasm staining his shirt. He didn't look at her, but she knew how angry he was. She'd never seen such cold fury in Danny before. She opened her mouth to call his name, but she couldn't find her voice.

And then she blinked and he was gone.

Maddie reached for the counter to steady herself and suddenly realized she was taking in huge gulps of air. _Danny—!_ Surely she'd imagined that, imagined all of it. Except how could she imagine seeing him? Even if, in some feverish state, she'd freed the ghost herself, it wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. It would've been too weak. She could discern that much, even knowing how much it would have been trying to manipulate her.

It.

She?

 _Her name is Danielle._

There was no reason for Danny to know that.

But there was no reason for ectoplasm to bleed, either.

Maddie reached out a shaking hand and knocked the wire rack as she tried to pick up the centrifuge tube containing her precious sample. It fell to the floor, and she dropped to her knees in a scramble catch it. It was capped plastic, not open glass, so it wouldn't shatter on impact or scatter across the floor, but—

Somehow, numb fingers snatched the tube before it could roll beneath the cupboards. Maddie sat back against them, still trembling, and stared at the sample. The solid ectoplasm was starting to fully degrade now, and even as she watched, the liquid began to sort itself into phases.

Phases.

There shouldn't be _phases_.

Liquid ectoplasm wasn't as dense as blood. The pool of red at the bottom of the tube was topped by a glowing layer of green scum, bubbling with energy. It was such a small thing, but it had the potential to do so much damage. If she were foolish enough to discard her gloves, she would already feel heat from the tube.

But as far as she was concerned, the damage had already been done.

Ectoplasm didn't bleed.

Human boys didn't disappear in the blink of an eye.

But she'd never seen a ghost produce a spark like the phantom had. Bright and burning and white, powerful but not necessarily controlled; it had seemed more instinctual than planned, some sort of reflex. And Danny's eyes….

Even when she closed her own, she could see the impossible green fire burning within Danny's eyes.

"Mom?" It took her a moment to place the voice as Jazz's, and a few more seconds for her vision to focus on her daughter. She had no idea when Jazz had come down to the lab. "What happened here?"

Jazz was looking at the dulling stains of ectoplasm that remained on the examination table and Maddie's HAZMAT suit, at the toppled rack that had held her centrifuge tube, at the dirtied tools. She looked, and Maddie knew how much her daughter could discern. Jazz knew she'd captured a ghost. She knew her mother had begun examining it.

She didn't know what had happened beyond that. Didn't know of the blood in her ectoplasm sample, of Danny's…of Danny's…. Of Danny.

"Mom?"

Maddie slid the centrifuge tube into her pocket, a movement Jazz only missed because her eyes were fixed on Maddie's face. "I'm okay, sweetie."

Jazz frowned, not buying the lie for a moment. "You're covered in ectoplasm," she said, "and you're pale as a sheet. What happened?"

 _Something I can't explain._ "I'll be fine, honey." Just not fine enough to get up right now. She wasn't sure she could trust her feet. Even if she could, she doubted she would be steady enough to fool Jazz.

Funny, that. She'd had so many years of training; she'd thought she had her nerves under control, that even the paranormal couldn't throw something at her that she hadn't been expecting on some level. How wrong she'd been. If she so much as lifted a hand, her body would betray her.

"Mom, you can tell me." Jazz crossed her arms. "I'm not a kid anymore. However bad it is, I can take it. I can help you through whatever this was."

Maddie forced a smile on her face. "It's nothing like that. I thought I had the ghost better contained than I did, that's all." It was closer to a lie than the truth, but Jazz didn't call her out on it. "I'm not hurt; just a bit surprised, that's all."

Jazz pursed her lips and, after a moment of silent deliberation, left with some mutters about tea. Maddie heard her calling for Jack and Danny to meet her in the kitchen. What would Jazz think when Danny didn't turn up? What would she tell Jack? Had she seen anything that didn't make sense?

Maddie took a slow, deliberate breath. "You're overreacting," she told herself, but she didn't believe that. She had the proof in her pocket. This went against _everything_. Ectoplasm and blood were like oil and water. They didn't mix. And one couldn't come from the other. They were entirely different things.

Except….

Except the centrifuge tube had been sterile, and she herself wasn't cut; there was _no way_ she'd inadvertently mixed her samples. The blood had come from the sample she'd taken.

From the ghost.

From the girl.

From Danielle.

 _I'm human, too._

That simply _wasn't possible_. It defied _everything_. Humans were alive; ghosts were not. Sentience alone did not constitute life, not where ghosts were involved, and the very idea that there could be such a thing as a _living ghost_ or something that was partially ghost, partially human—it wasn't even worth considering. It couldn't be done. She had years of research behind her to support that conclusion. Death could not coexist with life within the same being. It just wasn't possible. Whatever this was…. It was something different. It had to be.

The ghost, if not outright lying as ghosts were wont to do, was just misinformed. Convinced of something that wasn't the truth, perhaps. It had looked and acted young for one so strong, so perhaps it truly was naïve and ignorant of its true condition. Perhaps it had told her the truth as it had seen it. Perhaps it actually did believe it was human. But its belief hardly constituted truth.

And none of that explained Danny.

It didn't explain what he had done or the knowledge he'd had. It didn't explain why he was on such familiar terms with the ghost or why he cared for it. And as for what he'd done…. Even if she attributed his disappearing act to the ghost (which should have been too weak to vanish in its own right, let alone take Danny with it), she couldn't explain his eyes.

She knew what she'd seen. She'd like to attribute it to shock or some trick of the light, but she knew that wasn't the case. She hadn't imagined it.

Maddie forced herself to get to her feet, and then she stood there, staring into the stainless steel even though the examination table hardly offered her any answers. The ectoplasm stains on it were a dull green, but she could already imagine them turning red. And what story would that tell, blood on the table in their basement?

She grabbed some paper towel and began wiping it up, trying to hide the evidence. Trying not to cry. What was this? How could ectoplasm turn to blood? Even a shapeshifter couldn't mimic something like that on a molecular level. There were no accounts of delayed changes like that and certainly nothing that could be sustained once the sample had been separated from the ghost. It didn't make sense.

She threw the stained paper towels into the garbage and then stripped off her HAZMAT suit and stuffed that in, too, stopping only long enough to remove the centrifuge tube from its pocket and tucking it into her jeans. She washed her face at the sink and slipped on a fresh HAZMAT suit—she and Jack had plenty both upstairs and down—before checking herself over. She wouldn't let this tear her apart, have her fall to pieces in front of her family, when it might merely be a ghost's trick.

Maddie smoothed her hair down and adjusted the goggles on her head before heading upstairs. She was confident that Jack, at least, wouldn't be able to guess her distress. Jazz and…and Danny…. They would be a different matter, each observant in their own right, but she wanted to figure out how to frame this before she shared her findings with Jack.

Jazz was setting a steaming mug of tea on the table as she entered the kitchen. It was placed in front of her usual spot. Maddie gave her daughter a weak smile and accepted the offering for what it was.

Jack bounded in as she took her first sip. "Mads, have you seen Danny-boy? He was going to find you. We had a great time. Restocked the Fenton First Aid kit, tweaked some of the Auto-Jack's commands—"

"That's nice, honey," Maddie said.

By now, Jazz's brow was also knit in confusion. "Where _is_ Danny?" she asked. "He should be back by now. I didn't think…." She shook her head and forced a bright smile on her face. "He must have decided he couldn't wait another moment to tell Sam and Tucker everything."

The worry hadn't left Jazz's eyes, and Maddie wondered how many times she'd seen the same look before and never noticed. This couldn't have been the first time Jazz had done this. She must have missed dozens of little things like this if Danny knew the ghost by name and she herself had never seen the phantom before.

Jack said something else, and then Jazz, but Maddie buried herself in her tea as much as she dared and hoped Danny would come back before supper.

* * *

Jazz didn't expect Danny to tell her whenever he ran off to fight a ghost, but it was rare for the fight to last long. Even if Danny wasn't able to defeat the ghost immediately, he would usually get out of the fight long enough to regroup and— Not plan, not really, but at least gather his resources. So for him to disappear for hours? She worried. He wasn't answering his phone, and as far as she could tell, he hadn't even looked at the text messages she'd sent him.

When they ate supper without him, she cheerily reported that he'd told her he'd been invited over to Tucker's house, and as soon as she was done with the dishes, she headed to her room and phoned Tucker to fill him in.

As it turned out, he was over at Sam's.

Danny wasn't.

" _He came by earlier to grab my first aid kit,"_ Sam said, _"but before you panic, it's not for him."_

" _Yeah, sounds like your cousin got the worst of it."_

Jazz frowned. "Cousin?" she repeated, not sure who Tucker meant. "What cousin?"

" _You know,"_ Tucker said unhelpfully. _"Your cousin. Danielle."_

" _Dani,"_ added Sam.

Jazz swallowed. "We don't have a cousin named Danielle," she said slowly. "We don't even have any first cousins. Aunt Alicia doesn't have any kids, and the closest Dad has to a sibling is Vlad."

Silence on the other end of the line. Then Tucker's voice, saying, _"Uh…but we've_ met _her. Danny said she was your cousin, and the family resemblance was there."_

 _Danny lied._ But Jazz didn't say it. There wasn't any point. Especially when she couldn't explain away any supposed family resemblance. "Do you know where he is? He's not answering his phone." Silence stretched again, and she could imagine Sam and Tucker just looking at each other and deciding how much to tell her. "Please, guys. I need to know if I'm going to help. If I can't come up with anything better than him being with you guys, _again_ , Dad will think a ghost has kidnapped him or something."

From the groans on the other end of the line, they remembered what had happened with Amorpho. She hadn't needed to be caught in the middle of that one to figure out, more or less, what had gone down. _"I offered to help,"_ Sam finally said, _"but he said he needed to do this by himself. I'm sorry, Jazz. He didn't even tell us where he went."_

" _Tell them Danny's spending the night at my house. That'll buy you some time."_

"I don't want to do that unless I can actually get a hold of him," Jazz muttered, but Tucker would know that she'd take him up on his offer if Danny didn't show up soon. She would try the Booo-merang if her dad hadn't been in the middle of taking it apart and putting it back together again in a vain attempt to fix it. "Thanks. Let me know if you hear anything." They agreed, and Jazz hung up, biting her lip.

Danny hadn't just disappeared. That was something, at least. But who the heck was _Danielle_?

Danny had never talked about her, never even mentioned the name as far as Jazz could remember, and had apparently told Sam and Tucker she was their cousin, so she couldn't get the truth out of them. Claiming family resemblance with a supposed cousin was easier than with a sibling, so they wouldn't have reason to question him, but what would prompt him to do that? That's what she didn't understand.

Except.

Except Tucker had said that that this Danielle had gotten the worst of it, the worst of whatever this was, and he'd gone to _Sam's_ to fetch a first aid kit. That might have made sense if he'd been closer, but not when she knew he'd started from here; if he'd gotten a call that Danielle was hurt, he could have grabbed their first aid kit before flying off to meet her. (Jazz had no doubt this Danielle also knew Danny's secret.) It would have been easy enough, and they'd just restocked all their kits.

But he hadn't done that and he hadn't taken up Sam on her offer of help. He was playing his cards close to his chest, even from his friends.

Jazz swallowed. She'd thought Danny had gone down to check the lab when they'd gotten back home. Well, what if he had? What if he'd found—?

 _I thought I had the ghost better contained than I did._

Danny would lie to protect a friend. He would lie to protect family. Why wouldn't he lie to protect a ghost, too? It wouldn't be much different than what she did every day when she tried to protect him, and she already knew he had friends among the ghosts.

That didn't explain the lie to Sam and Tucker, though.

Then again, it might not be a lie. Jazz wasn't exactly overly familiar with their family tree. What if one of their relatives _had_ ended up in the Ghost Zone at one point and Danny had met them? Danielle could be a cousin, then—just a cousin many times removed. It would certainly explain why Danny had been so protective of her.

Jazz sighed and buried her head in her hands. She hated guessing like this. She much preferred being in control of the circumstances; that just almost never happened, so she'd gotten very good at adjusting on the fly. Well. She'd gotten better at it, at any rate. And she'd gotten better at lying, just like Danny had.

So maybe she didn't know exactly who Danielle was, and maybe she didn't know exactly what had happened, but she could guess. And if she was even partially right…. Well, if she had any of that right, then it explained how shaken her mother had seemed. But depending on what had happened, it could also mean—

"Jazzy-pants," bellowed Jack from downstairs, "where's your brother?"

 _I don't know._ "He's spending the night at Tucker's!" she yelled back, hoping this wasn't the time they were going to be caught in a lie.

* * *

Danny didn't come home the next morning. Maddie hadn't been able to stomach the thought of speaking with Tucker's parents to confirm Jazz's story. If it were a tall tale, that meant even Jazz didn't know where Danny was, and if it weren't, it likely meant Danny didn't want to see her.

She wasn't really surprised that she never heard from him during the day, but Maddie wasn't sure what to think when Danny didn't turn up that night, either.

Jazz couldn't keep the worry off her face, and Jack commented on Danny's absence. He seemed to believe the excuse that fell from Jazz's lips, but Maddie couldn't, not anymore. Not with that tube still in her pocket.

Not when its contents were completely red.

She drew Jazz to the side when Jack went downstairs to tinker. "Have you spoken with your brother today?"

Jazz frowned. "He's hanging out with Sam and Tucker. I just told you that." She must have read Maddie's expression because she added, "Mom, Danny's _fine_. I don't know what you're worried about. He's fourteen, not four."

Maddie suspected that Jazz knew _exactly_ what she was worried about, but she withdrew her hand and let Jazz pass.

She managed to wait half an hour before phoning Tucker's house, but no amount of preparation could keep the vice from tightening around her heart when it became clear Tucker's mother had no idea what she was talking about; Tucker was in his room doing his homework and had been since supper.

She phoned Sam's house, with the same result.

As far as Maddie could tell, Danny had been missing for a day. He'd run away from home, run away from _her_ , and now….

Maddie closed her eyes, took a breath, and tried not to sob. They could get through this. She could get through this. But if Danny wasn't coming back, she couldn't risk keeping the truth from Jack any longer. He might be in trouble. He might be hurt, unable to get back to them. That ghost could have done anything to him. That ghost….

That ghost….

He had left because of that ghost. He'd…he'd cared for it, been concerned about it, and because she'd treated it as she'd treat any ghost….

Maddie shook her head, opened her eyes, and went to find Jack. He'd put the Fenton Booo-merang aside for now and was adjusting one of his new inventions—she couldn't remember the name of this one—when she found him. He began talking to her about it excitedly, all bright smiles and wide gestures, but he caught her mood quickly enough and quieted. "What's wrong, Mads?"

"I'm worried about Danny." She hesitated. "It's…it's just a feeling, but I think he's in trouble." Swallowing, she added, "I've talked to the Foleys and the Mansons; Danny isn't with either Sam or Tucker right now."

Jack's face hardened. "Maybe some good for nothing ghost scum thought they could get back at us by kidnapping our Danny."

 _Something like that._ He had disappeared with a ghost, after all. "I think we should go look for him. But…not like last time. We don't want to give the ghost—if it is a ghost—reason to hide Danny from us further."

Jack looked disappointed but nodded. "No bazookas until it's in our sights," he promised. "I'll grab some extra weapons, and you can tell Jazzy-pants to meet us in the GAV to rescue her brother!"

"Jazz is already looking for him," Maddie said. She wasn't sure if it was a lie; she doubted it. "I'll help you load." She picked up the pieces of the Booo-merang, thinking she might be able to figure out how to reprogram it using the ghost's…the ghost's blood.

 _Ghosts don't have blood._

 _Humans do._

 _Girls do._

She still couldn't explain it. She couldn't explain Danny's behaviour, either. But it was more than just his behaviour that needed explaining. What she'd seen….

Overshadowing. Possession. It was such a safe, comforting thought. It would explain so much. It would explain almost everything. It would be so easy, to simply think her son possessed.

Possession would explain how he knew of and cared for the ghost girl. Possession would explain his disappearing act and the way his eyes had burned an unearthly green before that. Possession would explain why she hadn't heard from her baby boy since he'd found her in the lab with the ghost.

But possession wouldn't explain the blood that had been the ghost's ectoplasm.

The truth wouldn't be so easy.

She wasn't even sure she had enough of the pieces of the puzzle to figure it out on her own, but she wanted to let Jack live in bliss just a little longer, in case she was overthinking things, in case there was a simple explanation that she was missing. In case they hadn't had something terribly wrong for years.

The sun set while they were out on their search. She took the wheel first, carefully creeping past every alley as Jack tracked their progress and worked on expanding the range of the built-in Fenton Finder. By the time its radius encompassed half the town (and by the time they'd captured an ectopus, three ghost vultures, and the Box Ghost, none of which knew anything), they were searching by starlight and streetlight, and Jack was on his third circuit of their nonsensical route.

Maddie noticed when the vehicle turned where it hadn't before and looked up; they were driving up to Vlad's mansion. "What are you doing?" she asked. "The blip on the Fenton Finder is only going to be the experiments you asked Vlad to look after last week."

"I know," Jack said, "but Danny's missing, and ol' Vladdy will want to help, even if he does want to put ghost hunting behind him."

Maddie knew how much Jack wanted to pull Vlad back into the fold, but she was also quite certain Vlad's resistance was more than just a distaste for the science after that accident with the proto-portal back in their college days. While he had rolled his eyes, he had still agreed to babysit—his word, not theirs—their experiments to see how they did in a setting with low ecto-contamination, and she was certain he was still interested in it. She feared his reluctance to fall back in line with them had as much to do with public image—he was the mayor now, after all—as it did with their different stations in life.

Not to mention his desire for control, which had served him well (Vlad always had been ambitious) but which had always turned her off. Jack was excitable, but he was willing to work with her. Vlad…. Vlad had always liked being the one calling the shots, never quite trusting them to do the job as well as he himself might. She knew he'd tried—he'd always asked her to double check his calculations or to go over one thing or another with him—but he never liked leaving either of them to figure something out on their own.

"You stay here," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. "I'll fill him in. It won't take long." She slid out and walked to the door, rubbing her arms as she did so. It wasn't enough to stop the shivers, but the chill in the air wasn't the only reason she was shaking.

She didn't know if he'd hear the knocker, so she rang the bell and waited.

It was a few minutes before Vlad appeared, wrapped in housecoat and wearing fluffy slippers. He hadn't been able to clean all the white cat hair from his robe, and she allowed herself a small smile before she raised her eyes to meet his glare.

Anger was already melting into confusion. "Maddie?" he asked. His eyes saw the Assault Vehicle behind her, and—no doubt—Jack still inside. "It's three in the morning. What is this about?"

"Danny's missing," she said quietly. "We aren't sure, but we think he's with a ghost. Jack's ready to dive blind into the Ghost Zone with the Spectre Speeder, and I think that might be our only option, but I just…." Her throat closed. "I don't…." How could she explain any of this to Vlad when she couldn't bring herself to tell Jack? "I think it might be my fault."

Vlad pulled her into a hug, and she couldn't bring herself to mind. "Oh, Maddie, don't fret. I'll personally search with you. We'll find the little badger. I'm sure Daniel will turn up faster if we split up. Why not let Jack search the Ghost Zone while we expand our search here?"

Maddie pulled back and wiped at her eyes. "I don't want to send Jack in alone. Maybe you could go with him?"

"As much as I'd love that, I'm afraid I'm more useful out here; I don't have any resources in the Ghost Zone. But hasn't Jack built an exploratory vehicle for just this purpose? I'm sure it's well equipped. You mustn't worry about him, Maddie. He will be as capable in the Ghost Zone as he is here."

Vlad was right; he had connections he could use here, and if anyone could hold their own against ghosts, it would be her Jack. She'd go with him if she didn't have this compulsion to be here in case Danny came back, so that at least one of them was here to welcome him. Jazz would be home, of course, but Jazz….

Maddie still had the awful feeling that her daughter knew more than she did, and if she allowed Jazz to become too involved in this, she'd never find out the truth. She'd merely uncover another set of lies cleverly crafted to appease her.

She didn't want more lies.

She'd seen too much of the truth now.

"You're right," she whispered. "Thank you. I'll go talk to Jack. Come over to our place when you're ready."

She turned, but he caught her arm. "Maddie," he said, "we'll find Daniel. Don't worry."

She smiled, but it was merely one which acknowledged that she'd heard him. She was a mother; she'd be a fool not to worry. "Thanks." The word was empty, as meaningless as her smile. His words were no comfort; his promise of help was worth more, and she'd already secured that.

Maddie pulled her arm free and went back to Jack. "He'll be over as soon as he can," she reported as her seatbelt clicked.

Jack didn't shift the Assault Vehicle back into gear. "I still think we need to expand our search, Mads. If a ghost took him…."

"I know. You're right. I should have listened to you earlier. I just don't like the idea of going into a place like the Ghost Zone blind."

Jack reached over to put his hand on hers, letting their fingers intertwine before he gave them a gentle squeeze. "We've wanted to do this since before we built the Fenton Ghost Portal. I went over the Spectre Speeder yesterday, and she's ready for the trip. It's time to stop putting it off. Danny will show up if I search for Real World Objects. If he's in there, I'll be able to find him, and the ghost scum that took him will _pay_ for messing with our family."

Maddie leaned over to kiss him. "Just remember to set the homing beacon so you can find your way back."

* * *

"What's Vlad doing here? Where's Dad?"

Maddie handed her daughter a mug of hot coffee. "Sit down, Jazz. We need to talk."

If it weren't for the situation, Maddie might have laughed at Jazz's horrified expression framed by frizzy strands of red hair and a fluffy teal robe. As it was, hysteria still made her smile. "Vlad's going to help me search for Danny out here, and your father went through the por—"

"Dad actually took the Spectre Speeder?" Jazz interrupted. "Into the Ghost Zone? They'll _kill_ him!"

Maddie saw Vlad smile at that remark—she thought the idea was ludicrous, too; Jack Fenton wasn't easy to kill—and put an arm around her daughter to lead her to the table. "You don't seem surprised that we're looking for your brother."

Maddie felt Jazz's shoulders stiffen and then slump under her touch. "I…I haven't heard from him in a while, and he usually checks in when he can."

Maddie wasn't sure anymore where the lies stopped and the truth began. "Vlad, do you mind giving us a moment?"

Vlad had been looking over the Booo-merang; she hated to admit it, but she still couldn't see where Jack had gone wrong, and she wasn't having any luck getting its tracking system to latch onto the ever-weakening ecto-signature of the ghost blood. At her request, he gathered its components and stood. "Of course. I'll continue my examination in the living room."

She might still end up telling Vlad what she was going to now tell Jazz and she would have to tell Jack, but for now….

Maddie and Jazz watched him leave. "Danny wouldn't want his help," Jazz muttered.

"Danny will be thankful if we can save his life," Maddie pointed out as they took their seats at the table.

Jazz was quiet for a moment, warming her hands on the coffee and staring into it. "Is this really about Danny?" She met Maddie's eyes then. "What happened in the lab? When we got back from our trip?"

Maddie took a slow, measured breath. "I managed to capture a ghost, and I brought it back to the lab," she said. Jazz knew this part already, but Maddie felt that she had to start from the beginning. "I wasn't very far into my examination when…when Danny walked in."

Jazz's eyes narrowed, picking up on her hesitation and possibly suspecting her substituted words, but she didn't comment.

"He released the ghost, and that's the last time I saw him."

She waited for Jazz to draw the obvious conclusion— _and that's why we think a ghost took him_ —or to point out the seemingly obvious error in Danny's judgement— _why would he release a ghost?_ —but she didn't. Instead, she asked, "Why did you let him free a ghost?"

Jazz didn't find the idea that Danny would do such a thing remotely unthinkable; she wondered why Maddie had allowed him to do it.

It lent even more credence to the idea that there was much more going on than Maddie had ever suspected. Jazz's lies were coming with an ease that suggested routine, but the lack of them now made it clear that they weren't wrong in thinking that Danny was gone. Jazz was just as worried about her little brother as they were.

But whatever sneaking around Danny might usually do, however much it involved ghosts like the phantom she'd captured…. That didn't matter now, in light of what had happened. Danny was too young to fend for himself. Even if he'd run away, she had an obligation to find him and care for him. She loved him, even knowing he must still be furious with her. She had to try to make amends. She didn't know how, but she couldn't even begin if she couldn't find him. She hoped…she hoped they could begin by understanding. By listening. By explaining.

Jazz, knowing the little bit more that she did of Danny's life, might be able to help with that more than she realized. But she, too, would have to know everything, hard as that knowing may be.

Maddie swallowed, reached into her pocket, and put the centrifuge tube on the table between them.

Jazz's brow furrowed as she picked up the tube for a quick examination. One eyebrow rose in disbelief. "This is just blood."

She didn't understand.

Maddie hadn't expected her to.

But she needed her to.

"It used to be ectoplasm."

Jazz went white and the tube dropped from her fingers. Maddie caught it before it bounced and rolled onto the floor. She hid the evidence back inside her pocket, and she waited.

It took Jazz a long moment to compose herself. She clenched the mug as if it were a reminder of simpler times. Slowly, she opened her mouth, but her question wasn't one Maddie had anticipated: "Do we have a cousin named Danielle?"

Maddie stared at her, wondering if she'd heard that right. "Come again, sweetie?" Had she really just said—?

Jazz was shaking her head. "No, we don't. I didn't think so. I…." She cursed and stood. "Danny's keeping secrets," she said abruptly, "and I don't think he's the only one."

Maddie stood, too, if only so she would be ready to intercept her daughter. "Jazz? What do you know about this?" She had to know something. _Danielle_. That was the ghost girl's name. Whatever would possess Jazz to ask if she were a _cousin_? She didn't even know that was the phantom Maddie had had on the examination table!

Jazz's expression had morphed into one of determination. "Not enough," she bit out. "And Dad? Did you tell him this yet?"

"I was hoping to come up with a feasible theory first—"

Jazz held up one hand, and Maddie stopped. "No, it doesn't matter. You won't just figure this out. It's not something that can just be _figured out_. It's…. Look, I'm sorry. Danny really isn't the only one who's been keeping secrets. I just wasn't about to tell you when he wasn't ready. But if…." She trailed off, turned her head toward the living room, and yelled, "Vlad?"

He reappeared, hovering at the entrance to the kitchen. "Did you need something? I haven't quite figured out—"

"Forget the Booo-merang." Jazz stalked over to him, drawing herself up to her full height. She was still shorter than him, but her ire made up for that in spades.

But her ire was one more thing Maddie couldn't understand. Why did she seem to think Vlad had something to do with this? He didn't know where Danny was any more than they did, and he wouldn't know anything about this mysterious Danielle.

And since he hadn't continued his paranormal research as they had, he wouldn't know about the ectoplasm undergoing its impossible shift to blood.

But Jazz seemed to know more about this than Maddie did, even if she clearly did not know everything, and Maddie couldn't find the voice to stop her.

Not when she knew her daughter had a nose for the truth.

Vlad looked amused. "Did I say something to upset you, Jasmine?"

"It's what I think you did that upsets me," Jazz spat. "We're past the point of secrets." She looked back at Maddie. "Danny freed the ghost, right? And then disappeared?"

Now Vlad looked uncomfortable, but Maddie couldn't blame him for that. She hadn't exactly given him the whole story yet. "They vanished, yes."

But Jazz was shaking her head again. "No, Mom. I doubt that ghost had much energy to do anything if you had them strapped down and were taking samples."

Vlad took a small step back. "Perhaps I should just—"

" _No_." Jazz grabbed his arm, ignoring Maddie's admonishments. "Danny wasn't taken. He ran. If he didn't tell Sam and Tucker where he was going, that means he doesn't want to be found."

"I can assure you, Jasmine, that I'm doing everything—"

"I don't care about that right now!" she burst out.

" _Jazz_!"

Jazz turned back to her. "You don't understand yet, Mom, so just trust me, okay?"

"Jazz, your brother's in trouble—"

"I don't think he is. Not from what you've told me. But I can't be sure until I find out one thing." She looked at Vlad. "I need the truth."

"Oh?"

Vlad's amusement had returned, but Maddie watched it slide off his face with Jazz's next question: "Who's Danielle?"


	2. Chapter 2

Vlad's expression settled into one of polite confusion. Maddie wasn't sure if he recognized the name but couldn't remember why it sounded familiar or if he was completely baffled by the question. It was possible he'd come across the ghost girl before, of course, but it was equally likely that he hadn't. He hadn't done any paranormal research since their college days. Unless he'd been reading the papers she and Jack had published, there was a good chance he was behind in the field despite his move to Amity Park.

There was no reason for Jazz to be directing her ire at him, as if he had all the answers and was purposefully withholding them. He'd come to help them. There were far more gracious ways to ask if he knew anything about the ghost girl than demanding answers he may not even have.

"Jazz, honey—"

"Who's Danielle?" Jazz growled again, not even turning to acknowledge her mother's words.

"I imagine you already know the answer to that question if you're using the poor girl's name," Vlad said mildly, "so why don't you enlighten me?"

Without breaking his gaze, Jazz reached out and pulled open the drawer by the fridge. It was a utility drawer of sorts, holding a variety of weaponry and containment devices in case things got…out of hand. There had been too many incidents of ecto-contamination in their food for such precautions not to be prudent.

Maddie didn't miss the slight rise of Vlad's eyebrows when Jazz pulled out a pair of Fenton Cuffs and slipped something—presumably the key—into her pocket. "My dear girl," he said, "surely you know those work as well on humans as they do on ghosts? It's hardly necessary. I _am_ here of my own free will."

"Then you won't mind putting them on," Jazz ground out. "Right?"

"Sweetie," Maddie said quietly, "I think you're taking this a bit too far. Vlad is helping us, and he can hardly work with his hands bound." Jazz's expression only hardened as she was speaking, so Maddie added, more plainly, "You don't need to treat him like a prisoner."

"You have no idea what I need to do, Mom." Jazz held out the cuffs. "Well?"

Vlad laughed and shook his head. "I don't see the need."

"Well, _I_ do." Jazz grabbed Vlad's arm and snapped the cuff onto his left wrist. His expression darkened immediately, but before he could do anything, Jazz had closed the opposing cuff around her own wrist.

Maddie frowned and moved so that her daughter couldn't miss her expression. "Jasmine, this is ridiculous. Release him."

Jazz's left hand (her free hand) moved to her hip, resting there as if she were preparing to scold her own mother—and for something other than their dubious influence on Danny's psyche. "No. You have no idea how necessary this is, Mom."

"Then tell me what I don't know," Maddie retorted, not hiding the shortness in her voice. Jazz's actions were inexcusable. Vlad was an old friend. He was helping them. He didn't deserve this sort of treatment. It was completely unfounded.

"I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding," Vlad said smoothly. His eyes slid to meet Jazz's. "Isn't that right?"

"Like I said, we're past the point of secrets."

Maddie opened her mouth—saw Vlad do the same—but Jazz was already moving, twisting around to reach the hidden panel by the fridge. A few seconds later, she'd exposed one of the giant red buttons that activated their security system.

Vlad hauled her backwards before she had a chance to press it, and Maddie rounded on her daughter. "Jasmine, explain yourself!"

Despite having Vlad's arms wrapped around hers, Jazz managed to square her shoulders and look very grown up in that moment—more like the woman Maddie knew she would soon be, one with countless lessons of life's experience under her belt, than the teenager she still was. "I was trying to."

"Hardly," Vlad drawled, and Maddie couldn't help but agree with him.

"Irrational actions are not an explanation, and you of all people know that. Danny was kidnapped by a _ghost_ , and—"

"He wasn't, Mom. You know too much to deny that. That ghost you had on the table? Her name is Danielle. And I don't need to have met her to know that Danny cares about her. If he didn't, they wouldn't be gone. And he wouldn't call her a cousin when he talked about her with Sam and Tucker."

Vlad's grip must have tightened because Jazz gasped. Maddie stepped forward to help, but she was preoccupied by the fact that Jazz knew the ghost girl's name. She shouldn't have known it, couldn't have connected it to the ghost girl even though she had apparently heard it somewhere else, too—and what was all this about _cousins_?

"Honey," Maddie tried, "we don't know what that ghost told Danny—"

"Maybe we don't." It was an agreement, but Maddie knew her daughter well enough to know that Jazz wasn't finished. This wasn't a concession; it was a setup for her counter argument. "But maybe Vlad does. _Isn't that right_?"

For the life of her, she had no idea where the venom in Jazz's voice was coming from. Fortunately, Vlad was taking this all graciously, smiling even though Jazz couldn't see him. He did not, however, loosen his grip. "I'm afraid I'm just as much in dark as you on this matter."

Jazz snorted. "This is ridiculous. Do you really think I won't say it now, Vlad? Danny's not hiding this anymore, so I don't need to, either."

"Danny's not hiding what anymore?" Maddie asked cautiously.

"His association with ghosts," Vlad replied before Jazz could. "That's my fault, really."

"You can say that again," Jazz muttered. She kicked at Vlad's leg. "Let me go already."

"Vlad, please. I'm sure Jazz is ready to be civil, aren't you, sweetie?" Jazz looked the farthest thing from civil right now, but Jazz also prided herself on being a responsible adult. She was less prone to drastic measures and wild lies than her brother—significantly less so, if Danny had been associating with _ghosts_.

It made perfect sense, though. He'd be sure they'd disapprove (not that he was wrong there) and would try to keep his… _activities_ , for lack of a better word, a secret. And, really, this behaviour hadn't started until the ghosts began showing up on a regular basis. He hadn't shut them out until he'd been certain he'd be shut out because of his choices. She wished he'd talked to them, though. They could have tried to come to some sort of understanding.

But while an association with ghosts would explain how he knew the ghost girl's name, while it would explain his protective nature of her and—possibly—even the sense of kinship that had developed between them to the point that he'd started calling her a cousin— While that could be true, it didn't explain what she'd seen.

It didn't explain his eyes.

It didn't explain his disappearance.

It didn't explain the blood.

Even if another ghost were involved—even if something crazy had happened, such as Phantom daring to try to overshadow one of her children—it _still_ didn't explain the blood.

Vlad released Jazz, who huffed and moved to stand beside him. She was still more than an arm's length from their security centre's activation panel. Likely as not, she knew as well as Maddie that any move toward it now would simply end up in her being farther from it than before. Vlad was no longer smiling, but he was being an exceedingly good sport about all of this, and Maddie was grateful for that. Really, he was so good to her family.

"Now, since both of you clearly know the truth, would either of you care to explain to me what Danny has been up to?"

"Protecting us," Jazz said, "to the best of his ability. But we don't need to be protected from every ghost, and I have a feeling the girl you had in the lab—"

"It was a _ghost_ , honey."

"She was a girl." Jazz's voice was flat. "And she was Danny's friend. His…his cousin. I can't tell you what that means, though." A sharp smile was plastered on her face, too bright and wide to be seen as anything but false and a touch feral. In a cheery tone, she added, "But Vlad does, so why don't you tell us, Vlad?"

"I really don't see why you—"

"That's what I thought," interrupted Jazz. Her hand delved into her pocket and came out with a vial Maddie didn't recognize. One of Jack's forgotten experiments?

If Vlad's raised eyebrows were any indication, he had no idea what the threat was supposed to be, either.

And it _was_ a threat, even though Maddie had no idea why.

"Blood blossom extract," Jazz hissed.

Vlad jerked away, only to be restricted by the Fenton Cuffs.

Maddie blinked.

Blood blossoms harmed ghosts, not humans. True, they might act as an allergen for some, but Vlad hadn't had a problem with them back in college when they'd studied the plants in preparation of being armed with some sort of weapon should the proto-portal prove a success. If he'd since developed an allergy, she didn't know about it.

And there was certainly no reason for _Jazz_ to know about it if he had.

"Tell me who Danielle really is or I swear I'll—"

Maddie grabbed her daughter's hand, wrenching it behind her for leverage and then prying the vial free. She slipped it into her pocket lest Jazz get any more ideas. "That's enough!" She made no effort to conceal her anger. If Vlad _had_ developed an allergy—and there was good reason to think he had, based on his reaction—it was beyond reckless to purposefully trigger a reaction. "Jasmine, we do not threaten our friends. I don't want you to talk to anyone this way, least of all Vlad when he's here to help us. Release him or I'll do it for you. And then you can go down to the lab and keep watch for your father while we work up here."

"Mom, you don't—"

" _Now_."

Jazz's mouth snapped shut and she stared at her mother. "You can't be serious," she whispered.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

Jazz pursed her lips, but she knew better than to push back again. She reached into her pocket, pulled out the key, and unlocked the cuffs. She left Vlad to hand everything to Maddie as she stalked down the stairs.

"I'm sorry," Maddie said, flinching as the door slammed shut behind Jazz. "I really don't know what got into her."

Vlad's smile was thin as he rubbed at his wrist. "Teenagers."

"She's worried about Danny. You know how overprotective she can be. Sometimes, she just doesn't—"

" _FentonWorks Anti-Creep Mode Activated!"_ Her husband's voice blared out of hidden speakers, clearly heard despite the shrill alarms, even as the flashing lights slid smoothly out of the walls.

Maddie heaved a sigh as the recording promised pain. She had no idea why Jazz was doing this, but it was easy enough to deactivate the alarm and return the Fenton Cuffs and key to the drawer. The wailing mercifully shut off and the red lights retracted, but for the next five hours, the house would automatically respond to any signs of ecto-activity—providing she didn't key in the appropriate code first. A code which needed to be re-entered within two minutes if no ecto-activity was detected before it automatically reset. It hadn't seemed like a flaw at the time, but now….

"I'll talk to her," Maddie promised. "If you'll just give me a moment." She flashed Vlad a smile and didn't wait for his permission before thundering down the basement stairs. "Jasmine Fenton," she hissed, " _what_ has gotten into you?"

"We have to keep the Fenton Ghost Portal open for when Dad comes back," Jazz said from her chair at the computer desk. With her slightly furrowed brow and questioning tone, as if she were wondering how she could be in the wrong, she was the picture of confused innocence. "This is just a precaution, in case any ghost tries to sneak through in the meantime."

Maddie's eyes narrowed, but she couldn't guess at Jazz's true intention. She was fairly certain Jazz had one—her cleverness wasn't book smarts alone—but the only reason which crossed Maddie's mind was the one Jazz had given, and Jazz's manner convinced her it wasn't the truth. She decided to leave it for now and focus on the more pressing matter. "Why are you treating Vlad this way?"

Jazz stood and closed the distance between them, leaving her quizzical façade behind. In a quiet voice, she said, "Vlad isn't who you think he is. He's been lying to you for years. I don't know why it took him so long to reconnect with you and Dad, but I have my suspicions. It's…. The truth isn't pretty, Mom. You have to know that, and you have to be prepared for it."

Maddie sighed. "Give me some credit. I know you and Danny aren't fond of Vlad, but—"

"He's a creep who hates Dad and has a weird obsession with you and Danny," Jazz said bluntly. "You just can't see it."

"Jasmine—"

"He actually makes me think there's something to your whole 'all ghosts have an obsession' theory," Jazz continued blithely. "I mean, the Box Ghost and Skulker are obvious, but—"

Maddie scrubbed a hand over her face. She couldn't believe she needed to have this conversation with her daughter right now, when everything else was going on. "Honey, he's not a ghost." She was used to Jack jumping to conclusions, not Jazz. Jazz was one to sit down and think things through logically. "While he might be a little eccentric—"

"We used to call Plasmius the Wisconsin Ghost," interrupted Jazz. "Don't you think that it's weird that he's always spotted around Amity Park now? Ghosts aren't prone to move their haunts, are they?"

"Only when they're tied to something that's on the move," Maddie agreed, "but that's hardly evidence—"

The blaring ecto-alarm cut her off.

Again.

"Oh, I guess Vlad doesn't know about the primed sensor. How foolish of me."

Maddie could easily see that Jazz had planned this, but she didn't understand yet how it had worked. "We're not done here," she warned, taking the stairs back to the kitchen two at a time.

There was a scorch mark on the wall by the fridge and two more on the floor. An empty net was strewn across the open doorway by the living room, and—

Maddie stared at the shattered glass and smoking green splotches of one of their ecto-samples and then at Vlad, who was currently held in one of their vice-like traps in the centre of the room. Green ectoplasm dripped all down his front, and his hair was singed. "What were you doing?"

"An experiment, I'm afraid."

Maddie exhaled slowly, trying to steady her emotions, before walking over to the nearest hidden panel. She slid it open and keyed in the appropriate code to deactivate the alarm. _Again_. "May I ask what you were hoping to achieve?"

Vlad nodded at the Booo-merang. "I was hoping to recalibrate that completely. Blank it, if you will, before introducing the samples you've given me with the ghost's ecto-signature."

"And got targeted for your trouble." Their system would've picked up on the presence of ectoplasm the moment he'd opened the phase-proof jar. That, at least, explained what she'd seen. "I'm sorry about that. Once the system's primed, it searches out anything with an ecto-signature. We've recently introduced a way for it to ignore pre-programmed ecto-signatures—so that we can freely work on samples without compromising security—so you must have found a sample we haven't catalogued yet."

"Lucky me."

"Why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up? I'll find you some clothes to wear and wash those in the meantime."

"Thank you, but's rather fine material. It's best if I do it myself. I'll just run home and be back as soon as I can."

Maddie wasn't surprised, so she apologized again as she saw him to the door, and then she moved back to the kitchen and sat with her head in her hands.

* * *

"Mom? Is Vlad gone?"

Maddie looked up at Jazz's voice. "Yes, you were successful in driving him away," she said dryly.

Unlike Maddie had expected, Jazz didn't look the least bit contrite. Instead, her daughter looked grim. She pulled out another chair and sat opposed Maddie. "You need to understand something."

She needed to understand a lot of things, and right now, she wasn't sure she understood anything at all. "I'm quite aware."

Jazz wasn't put off by her tone. "What you showed me. About the blood."

Maddie frowned. "What about it?" She knew Jazz had wanted to find some ghosts to psychoanalyze for her ghost envy study, but she hadn't thought Jazz terribly interested in the hard science behind ghosts in general; she'd always been more captivated by the twists, turns, and perceptions of the mind.

"I've…. Mom, I've seen this before. Not with Danielle. I didn't know about her. I…I suspect why Danny never mentioned her, and I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but—"

"What does Danny have to do with this?"

Jazz's laugh sounded strangled. "Danny has to do with everything."

"He's helping the ghosts. You and Vlad both said he worked with them." She had no idea how Vlad had found out about it when she hadn't known, but at least Danny's behaviour made sense now. Not just how he'd reacted in the lab, but why he never wanted to go hunt ghosts with them and why he always seemed to disappear when there was an attack. She'd hoped he was hiding, not…. "You really think the ghost I had in the lab was his friend?" It sounded…wrong, the idea that a _ghost_ could be capable of friendship.

But that was before she'd met a ghost that bled.

She and Jack had captured humanoid ghosts before. They'd taken samples of ectoplasm before. This had never happened.

 _If I show you, will you stop?_

It had been a secret, a secret the ghost girl had been willing to give up in order to try to convince Maddie of her humanity, but…but her son had already been aware of it. Her daughter had already suspected it. It wasn't new.

"Friend. Family. It's…complicated, I think. Everything's complicated."

How could the ghost girl be _family_? Or even be close enough that Danny considered her as such? When had he managed to find the time to form such a close bond with her when they hadn't even documented a sighting of her in Amity Park before?

Maddie rubbed her temples for a moment before dropping her hands and looking Jazz in the eye. She couldn't answer those questions, and neither could Jazz, from what she understood, but Jazz could clear up some other things that didn't make any sense. "Who was the first?"

"What?"

"You said you've seen this before. The ectoplasm, the blood. So who was the first ghost you saw bleed? Why didn't you tell us? We have to completely revamp our working theories and—"

"Not a ghost," Jazz said slowly. "A…a halfa. It's a colloquial term."

"A halfa?"

"Half ghost, half human. A poor explanation for what it actually is, but—"

"Overshadowing," Maddie interrupted. "Long term." That actually made sense. Finally. "Constant exposure to ecto-energy can cause mutations, like what's happened with some of our dinners. But for ectoplasm to be masking blood, the changes would have to be—"

"Molecular," Jazz said. "Meaning it's not overshadowing."

"We don't know what long-term possession can do to living people," Maddie countered. "This could be our first evidence—"

"It's not."

"We don't know that without further study. Whichever ghost you saw before—"

"Mom. Just…listen to me." Maddie sat back at Jazz request and nodded, and Jazz gave her a thankful smile in return. "It was an accident. It wasn't your fault. Or Dad's."

Maddie frowned. "Jazz—"

"Don't blame yourselves, okay? For the accident or anything that's happened since. It's not your fault. I doubt you'll believe that, at least right away, but if you and Dad work with me, we can talk this out and figure out the best way to approach the situation, and—"

"Wait." This was about Vlad again, wasn't it? Maddie couldn't recall telling Jazz about the proto-portal incident back in their college days, but Jack had probably mentioned it at some point. "Vlad isn't a ghost, Jazz. Yes, there was an accident with the proto-portal, and yes, it was bad, but there hasn't been any lasting damage. He recovered." She'd always believed that, but even as she said it, she began to doubt.

Long-term possession, not simple overshadowing. What if something _had_ escaped the proto-portal that day? What if that something was controlling her friend? She'd thought Vlad had cut them out from his life because they reminded him too much of everything he had lost with the accident and had only recently realized how much he'd missed their friendship, but if some ecto-entity had worried that they'd spot the change in their best friend….

"I'm not sure recovered is the word for it."

It explained Jazz's actions and Vlad's apparent aversion to blood blossoms. As Jazz had pointed out, it explained the former Wisconsin Ghost's move to Amity Park. It was tied to Vlad. He was one of these…halfas.

If the broken ecto-sample had been a cover, what else was he trying to hide from her? From all of them? Had he been hoping to contaminate her samples instead, so that she'd never be able to track down the ghost girl?

Maddie swallowed. They hadn't noticed. They _should_ have noticed, should have questioned the years of silence if nothing else, but instead of giving a former friend the distance he'd seemed to need, they'd abandoned him. And now some ghost— _Plasmius_ —was a part of him, controlling him, and she wasn't sure who the real Vlad was anymore. Or even if his true self had survived.

 _If I show you, will you stop?_

Maybe not all the human halves were puppets. She wanted to have faith in Danny's judgement, for all that she had to question it if he were working with ghosts, but if this girl, this Danielle, was working with the ecto-entity that was using her as a host? If theirs was a symbiotic rather than a parasitic relationship? It could explain Danny's lapse.

 _I'm human, too._

Or perhaps the girl was fighting her possession and had simply had more success when Maddie had begun to disrupt its connection to her.

"Vlad's a halfa, Mom." The revelation should have her reeling, but after everything else…. "I'm pretty sure he's the reason Danielle is, too. I don't…. I don't know everything. Sam and Tucker don't, either. Danny never told them the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"Danielle," Jazz repeated. "Danny said she was our cousin. But she's not. And if anyone here knows the truth about who she is, it'll be Vlad."

"Plasmius, you mean."

Jazz pursed her lips. "There's no difference."

No, there likely wasn't. Not anymore. It had been so long. But there still _might_ be, and she wasn't going to rule it out when Vlad was nice enough to help them.

Unless that had been a trick, too.

"Why do you think he knows something?"

Jazz snorted. "Halfas aren't exactly common. He knows exactly how they're created, and I have a feeling her name isn't a coincidence." Maddie opened her mouth to ask what Jazz meant by that, but Jazz continued, "That's not important right now. The point is…. You believe me, right? About Vlad being a halfa? About him being Plasmius?"

"There's still a chance," Maddie said slowly, "that this is all conjecture built around coincidences." She still didn't want to believe it, not really, not of Vlad, of all people, but she'd seen enough to understand where Jazz was coming from. And if Plasmius _had_ overtaken Vlad and had done so years ago….

"It's really not. I can prove that. What will you let me shoot him with?"

Maddie frowned at Jazz's expression. "You don't need to look so happy about the idea."

"He has it coming."

Maddie couldn't understand the bitterness in Jazz's voice. If halfas were created by some sort of long-term possession, there was still a distinct difference between Vlad and Plasmius, at least if there was anything of her friend left after so many years hosting an evil ecto-entity. She would have thought Jazz would make that distinction. What else had happened between them that she didn't know about? There had to be something driving this conviction of hers. "He's helping us, sweetie."

Jazz crossed her arms. "Because he wants Danny and Danielle. And because it's an excuse to work closely with you. Was it his idea to send Dad off into the Ghost Zone alone?"

It had been. Not in so many words, not when Jack had already voiced the idea himself, but it was Vlad who had convinced her that it would work best for Jack to go in alone. He'd come over before Jack had left, when she'd been fretting over it again, and had wondered aloud about the complex capacities of the Spectre Speeder. Jack had happily rattled off its specs. Jack had been assuring her as much as Vlad that anyone using it would be perfectly safe. That if some ghost had taken Danny into its realm, he could be rescued. And then Jack hadn't been able to sit here and fiddle with inventions that had inexplicably tracked Danny in the past. He'd had to keep moving, keep searching.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Jazz sighed. "Mom, you have no idea what Vlad's done in the past. Danny knows more than I do, and it's…. Trust me, you and Dad wouldn't be such good friends with him if you knew everything. I'll tell you what I can, but Danny doesn't exactly tell me details if he thinks I'm just going to worry. You're going to have to get the story from him."

And what a story it would be. Maddie still wasn't sure she entirely believed it—wasn't sure she could until she saw solid evidence of it—but she couldn't fathom why Jazz would lie like this. If it wasn't the truth, Jazz certainly believed it was, and something must have convinced her of it or she wouldn't have done the things she'd done.

But uneasy as Jazz's allegations made her, Maddie's primary concern remained Danny's safety. If Jazz was right, if he'd taken the ghost and fled rather than the other way around, then— "Are you sure you haven't any idea where Danny might be?"

"He won't be close," Jazz said softly. "Not if he doesn't want to be found. He'd want to make sure he's well out of range of the Fenton Finder. And I'd trust Tucker to increase the capacity of the Booo-merang before I'd trust Vlad. Not that it needs improving. I mean, I can understand why you don't have an idea of its true range or longevity, but trust me when I say that it works fine as is."

Maddie frowned. "Vlad wasn't trying to improve it. He was recalibrating it so it would effectively lock onto the ghost's ecto-signature. The halfa's, I mean. Danielle's." That's what he'd claimed, at any rate.

Jazz stared. "It's already locked onto Danny. You _know_ that. And it's a safe bet that they're together, so what's the difference? Why waste your time on this when we could have been following it hours ago if that's all you were trying to do?"

"Sweetie, the Booo-merang might pick up Danny here at home, but I can't trust it'll remain that way when it's only done so because of a mistake on our part. Without an ecto-signature—"

"Mom." Something in Jazz's tone had the rest of Maddie's protest dying on her lips. "Danny _has_ an ecto-signature."


	3. Chapter 3

Maddie sighed. "You know there's a difference between ecto-contamination and an actual ecto-signature."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do. So trust me when I say Danny has an ecto-signature."

"Jazz." She shouldn't need to spell this out for her. "You know Danny refuses to wear his HAZMAT suit when working with our ecto-samples—"

"Really? That's why you think it's just contamination?" Jazz got to her feet and gestured towards the lab. "When was the last time you saw his HAZMAT suit?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Danny's HAZMAT suit. I can wear yours, but he's too small for yours or Dad's. So when was the last time you saw his?"

"It's in the closet in the lab with the rest of them." It was off to the side, to be sure—with Danny never taking his out and she and Jack routinely replacing theirs, it had invariably been pushed as far away as possible—but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Jazz crossed her arms again. "Then show me."

"Do you really think we have time for this now?"

"For me to make my point? Yeah, I do. Go look, okay? Just humour me. I'll get dressed and meet you down there."

Maddie smirked, eyeing Jazz's PJs under her housecoat. "I think I'll be back upstairs before you're down."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Jazz said before turning and heading for the stairs.

Maddie went downstairs to the closet she'd been in just yesterday. Danny's suit wasn't mixed in with hers, so she started going through Jack's side.

Only Danny's suit wasn't over there, either.

She checked the floor in case it had slipped off the hanger. Nothing.

The top shelf.

Nothing.

"No luck?" Jazz asked from behind her.

Maddie turned, noting her daughter's triumphant smirk. "Did Danny throw it out and not tell us so we wouldn't order a replacement?"

"No," Jazz said slowly. "He still has it. You just don't recognize it anymore."

"Honey, please. Just be straight with me."

"I'm trying. I just need you to believe me, and knowing Danny's HAZMAT suit isn't in the closet will help."

Maddie let out a slow breath. She still did Danny's laundry more often than he did, so if the HAZMAT suit was balled up in his room somewhere, it wasn't just stuffed in the back of a drawer or the back of his own closet. Not that he should have it mixed in with his other clothes, given the lectures he'd been given over the years on accidental contamination and the _purpose_ of the HAZMAT suit, but—

But if he hadn't left it in the lab, and he hadn't thrown it out, what had he done with it?

And what did Jazz mean, that she simply didn't recognize it anymore?

"If it helps you see the truth," Jazz added, "you've seen Danny's HAZMAT suit a lot. And recently. Definitely this week if not yesterday."

"I don't know what you're hinting at," Maddie said, "so please just tell me. We really don't have time for this."

"When was the last time you saw Phantom?"

"What does Phantom have to do with any of this?"

"Everything. Now answer the question."

Fine. She'd humour her, if only to get some answers in the end. "Two days ago. He defeated the Box Ghost before your father and I could make it to the scene."

"And?"

And what? Phantom had had his stolen Fenton Thermos, as usual, and he….

And he was wearing the same thing they'd always seen him in.

A HAZMAT suit not unlike theirs.

Not unlike Danny's.

 _You just don't recognize it anymore._

Had Phantom _stolen_ Danny's HAZMAT suit? She supposed they were the same size, and he clearly had no qualms about stealing their stuff. He could have easily disguised it so they didn't discover the truth—something which had clearly worked until Jazz had neatly laid it all out for her. Since Danny had never particularly liked wearing his HAZMAT suit, he wouldn't have complained when Phantom had taken it.

Then again, Danny was on friendly terms with Danielle. Given Phantom's popularity among children, Danny was very likely on friendly terms with Phantom, too. Friendly enough to help Jazz supply him with their technology, release the ghosts he caught back into the Ghost Zone, and give away his own suit. She'd assumed as much, really. Danny would do whatever he could to avoid coming on a ghost hunt with them. This shouldn't be a surprise.

Maddie groaned. "Phantom's wearing Danny's HAZMAT suit."

"That's one way of putting it."

How was there another way to put that? And what did it even have to do with Jazz insisting that Danny had an _ecto-signature_? He wasn't a ghost, and humans didn't have ecto-signatures. It was as simple as that.

Except that girl—

Ectoplasm shouldn't turn into blood. Ghosts shouldn't bleed.

And her baby boy's eyes shouldn't change colour. Shouldn't _glow_.

"Danny and Phantom," Maddie said slowly. It was starting to make sense now. Danny's skittishness around their weapons. His recent actions. Phantom's protective nature. " _Danny Phantom_." How could she and Jack have missed this before?

"Exactly."

Danny wasn't just friends with Phantom.

The similarities in their names, their statures, their voices— It wasn't just coincidence.

And Phantom's knowledge of their weapons wasn't second-hand.

He knew exactly how to avoid them because he knew exactly how they worked. He knew what was coming because he'd had warning—he'd _always_ had warning—because she and Jack had told him about their prototypes. Without ever realizing it.

"That's why he wanted to protect her. The ghost girl."

"Well, that's certainly part of it. If we knew exactly who she was, we'd know the rest, but Danny's been playing that close to his chest." Jazz pursed her lips. "Mom. I know this is a lot to take in. I know it's hard. And just you guys can't blame yourselves for what happened, and you can't blame Danny for what he's done since. He's been doing the best he can. He didn't want to tell you about this—he never really told me about this; I found out on my own—and clearly, he didn't want us to know about Danielle. But he cares about her more than he cares about protecting his secret, which tells us all we need to know."

"He thinks she's family." Protectiveness. One of Phantom's key traits. And Jack's.

Like father, like son.

Oh, they'd been so blind.

How many of the human host's traits did the ecto-entity embody? How much went the other way? It was what it was, whichever name Jazz wanted to give it. Changes in molecular structure, ecto-mutations…. Even if Jazz didn't think it was long-term overshadowing because of the extent of the changes, even if she thought Danny had become some sort of _halfa_ , the effects of the contamination were painfully clear.

And it explained a few things she and Jack had never been able to figure out.

Like how Phantom survived so well with limited contact with the Ghost Zone.

Or how Plasmius—the _Wisconsin Ghost_ —had seemingly effortlessly made the move from Wisconsin to Amity Park.

Jazz's expression hardened. "She might be, if she is who I'm starting to think she is." Her voice was sharp, bitter, and she took a deliberate breath before saying, more evenly, "Did she look at all like Phantom?"

She had.

She could easily be his sister.

And Danny called her a cousin. Could that be what it felt like, to him? Back in the lab, had she faced not just Phantom's anger but also Danny's?

"Tucker said there was a family resemblance," Jazz added when Maddie couldn't find her voice to answer.

"There is," Maddie agreed quietly. Carefully. She couldn't deny it, and there was no point in it. Anyone looking at Danielle would see the similarities between her and Phantom.

And Danny.

Their eyes had been the same shade of green, and Danny's…. Danny's had glowed just as the phantom's had when Maddie had first captured it— _her_ —when she had tried so hard to break free.

When she had tried unsuccessfully to break free.

When she had fought with increasing desperation and uttered sweets like swears.

Her eyes had dimmed by the time she'd begun bargaining, bartering. Promising anything and everything she could for freedom.

For Maddie to stop.

How much had been lies?

 _I'm human, too._

It couldn't all be truth, but…. It wasn't all lies, either, not like she'd thought.

"Vlad knows. He knows the full story. He _has_ to." Jazz glanced toward the Ghost Portal. "And he sent Dad away on purpose. In the Spectre Speeder, too, to make it harder for us in case Danny _is_ hiding in the Ghost Zone."

"The Fenton Ghost Portal never opened." Not while she'd been down in the lab, anyway. "The ghost…Danny…didn't go that way." But she'd still let Jack go to search it. Even though it was the only stable entrance, even though no ghost should be able to open something that was genetically locked—

Because she'd known that Danny could open it. Might have been able to slip back to open it.

Because she'd known that he'd been in charge, in control, using those _powers_ , and not the ghost he'd rescued.

And there were always natural portals, and ghosts seemed to have a better grasp on where and when those turned up than she and Jack had ever been able to determine.

"He wouldn't have to. Vlad's got a portal, too, and Danny has friends that can create them."

Then Jack's search wasn't as fruitless as she'd feared. Maybe Danny—

Wait.

"What do you mean, Vlad has a portal?"

"Mom, think about it. He never gave up ghost hunting. And Danny doesn't need to tell me that he supplies the Red Huntress with her weapons when it's clear that most of her stuff is knockoff FentonWorks tech or adapted from what Skulker routinely uses. Besides, where did you think she got rid of all the ghosts she caught? For that matter, where did you think _Phantom_ got rid of all the ghosts he caught?"

"I—" She'd never thought about the Red Huntress. She'd barely thought about Phantom. "I always knew you and Danny supported Phantom. I thought that's how he got access to our inventions."

"Well, I guess you weren't entirely wrong." Jazz looked at the Fenton Ghost Portal again, still standing open and waiting for Jack's return, and bit her lip. Then, "We should call Sam and Tucker. They know the Ghost Zone better than I do. They've been helping Danny map it."

They _what_?

"I don't think they've ever travelled without the Spectre Speeder, but if you just give them a couple of the Fenton Jet Packs, they'll be able to make it to _someone_ who's an ally before Walker catches them."

An ally?

"I don't want to think that Dad's in danger—the ghosts have to know there will be retaliation if any of them try something—but to say Vlad doesn't like him is an understatement, and he's basically got some ghosts on his payroll. He might try something. I'd feel better if Sam and Tucker were watching his back."

"Jazz, slow down." Vlad Masters hosted Plasmius. Her son hosted Phantom. Whether she liked the idea or not, they were _halfas_ , contaminated on a molecular level. Vlad had never given up ghost hunting despite hosting a ghost—or maybe _because_ of that? She really hadn't any idea how much the human hosts could control and how much the ghosts overtook them—and, from Jazz's not-so-subtle hints, likely knew how Danielle had become a host, too. Or been the cause of it.

But Sam and Tucker had been helping Danny—or Phantom?—map the Ghost Zone? Wasn't it an ever-changing, ever-expanding realm that fluctuated based on happenings in their world? And they'd taken the Spectre Speeder to do it? And made _friends_ with ghosts, to the point that Jazz could offhandedly refer to some as allies?

Or maybe not friends, per se, but more than mere acquaintances or there would be no concept of _alliance_. She hadn't thought ghosts could form alliances. Not true ones, anyway. Not ones where they didn't fully intend to betray the other party.

But she'd never thought ghosts could bleed, either.

Or even dreamed that something like a _halfa_ could exist.

"We don't really have time to go any slower than we are. Vlad will want to get to Danny and Danielle before we do, and you can bet that whoever he doesn't sic on Dad will be deployed to try to find them." Jazz blew out a breath. "I know this is hard. I know it's a lot, but there will be time for processing later. Can you trust me to take the lead on this?"

She wanted to sit down and _think_ , figure this out, work out where they'd gone wrong—where she'd gone wrong—and figure out how to tweak their theories.

But Jazz was right, of course.

Danny had been missing— _on the run_ , thanks to Phantom—for over twenty-four hours now.

Time was not on their side.

"Call Sam and Tucker," Maddie murmured. She moved to sit on the stairs to wait while Jazz pulled out her cellphone. She didn't want to involve Danny's friends, but from what Jazz was saying, they were already involved. They'd known about Danny—about Phantom—just as Jazz had. Unlike Jack. Unlike herself.

But Danny hadn't told Jazz about Danielle, and he'd simply told Sam and Tucker that she was his cousin—something Maddie knew wasn't true. Not unless the ghost had completely overtaken the girl, though she doubted the explanation was as simple as Danielle—or the ghost she hosted—being Phantom's cousin, not with the similarities in their features. And Vlad….

Vlad had given very little indication that he knew about any of this.

If he hadn't reacted so violently to the mere idea of being exposed to blood blossom extract, if the broken ectoplasm samples didn't seem so contrived in hindsight….

If the Wisconsin Ghost hadn't relocated to Amity Park when Vlad had bought his mansion.

She supposed she shouldn't be so surprised that he was still involved in the paranormal. She'd thought he'd given it up after the accident in college. She'd thought he'd eschewed that in favour of more tangible things, and he'd certainly made something of himself. But Vlad's science had always been sound. He'd had a talent for it, and he'd never been someone who gave up on something that came so easily to him.

But the accident.

His sickness.

The fact that he'd cut ties with them for _twenty years_ , only to suddenly—and enthusiastically—become a part of their lives again.

 _It was an accident_ , Jazz had said. It was _the_ accident. _Don't blame yourselves._ As if they were free of blame, even though the entirety of it shouldn't be settled on them.

Their involvement had led to Vlad's lab accident.

And…and judging by when Phantom had turned up, judging by what Jazz had implied as much as what she'd said, their negligence had led to Danny's lab accident.

Maddie's eyes turned to the portal.

The Fenton Ghost Portal had been their greatest achievement. They'd been heartbroken when it hadn't worked.

And they hadn't questioned enough when it had.

She and Jack were—at least in part—responsible for the fact that Danny hosted Phantom. The fact that Danny was a _halfa_ , changed or fused or _whatever_ on a molecular level. They had done this _to their own son_. They had subsequently endangered his life on a near daily basis by trying to hunt Phantom down.

And he'd never told them.

He'd been afraid, no doubt, of what they'd do.

Of them dismissing him or not listening.

Of the fact that he might have been the one on their examination table. That her scalpel might have been slicing into him and not Danielle. That she might have ignored his begging instead of hers.

Maddie rested her head in her hands. When Jazz got off the phone, she asked, "Who do you think Danielle is?"

"Sam's going to call Tucker. They'll be over as soon as they can."

"Jazz," Maddie said, raising her head, "who do you think Danielle is?"

Emotions flew across Jazz's face before it settled into a careful mask. "An experiment."

Maddie took a steadying breath but didn't speak or let her eyes stray from Jazz's face.

Jazz, in turn, fidgeted and started to pace. "I thought Vlad and Danny were the only halfas," she said, "but clearly that's wrong. I _do_ know that Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with Danny because of that, and I know he has no scruples whatsoever. And I know he hasn't given up his paranormal studies, that he has a secret lab, complete with its own portal to the Ghost Zone, and enough wealth and resources to build whatever he can dream up." She stopped and turned to face Maddie. "And I know that Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with you."

Clearly, Danny's discomfort in Vlad's presence was far more than that, and Jazz's hatred of him wasn't remotely unwarranted.

"Danielle looks like she could be Phantom's sister, right?"

Maddie's stomach twisted. "She also appears to be a teenager—or nearly one—so there is absolutely _no way_ Vlad could have gotten something from me." They hadn't had contact with Vlad for years. And even if she couldn't remember _every moment_ , even if she knew people couldn't tell when they were being overshadowed, she'd never woken with scars or stitches that weren't from a lab accident that _she remembered_.

Of course, she might not have, given a ghost's ability to use intangibility.

The idea made her feel so _violated_. She wanted to scream, but the entire situation was too exhausting.

"He didn't know about Danny until the reunion," Jazz pointed out, and then she hesitated. "At least, I don't think he did. Given the number of ghosts who know who Danny is—and _what_ he is—when they meet Phantom, it's quite possible that Vlad had heard rumours and had his suspicions. He might not have just been hoping to rekindle something with you."

Bile rose in Maddie's throat, and she swallowed it back down. She'd invited this man _into her house_. He knew she was happily married to Jack, and yet…. And yet, thinking over his words, so many of them could have another meaning. One she'd never realized. Maybe Plasmius had twisted Vlad's crush on her? Surely this wasn't all on _Vlad_ , for all that her kids clearly blamed him.

But maybe they blamed him because they had Phantom and Danny's relationship for comparison. Maybe Phantom wasn't as horrible to Danny as she'd been assuming. Maybe…maybe Phantom's association with Danny was the only reason he'd survived his lab accident. Maybe it had always been worse than they'd ever realized, than Danny had ever let on.

He hadn't wanted to go to the hospital when they'd found out. He'd flatly refused her suggestion of a doctor's checkup later. _"We can go if I get worse,"_ he'd promised, _"but we can't exactly afford to go now. Insurance isn't going to cover my stupidity."_ He'd been right, but they'd have found a way to make it work, even if it had meant her picking up a job other than being an inventor, scientist, and stay-at-home mom for a few years.

But then his bruises and scrapes and what had looked like burn marks had faded, all faster than she'd anticipated, and she hadn't pushed the matter.

She'd failed him.

How could Jazz expect them not to blame themselves?

And Vlad. Plasmius. Acting the way they did. (He did?) Every calculated move, knowing her ignorance of Danny's situation, of everything….

"Vlad's always had a fixation with Danny he hasn't had with me, just because Danny's a halfa. So, Danielle might not be _yours_ ," Jazz said slowly. "At least, not in the way you're thinking. She might be. I really, really don't know for sure, and I wouldn't put anything past Vlad. But I…. The science is shady, Mom. I've been trying to do some research, and there's nothing concrete that I can find. But Vlad wouldn't care. He'd try it anyway. And she might look older than she is."

"Do you think I have another daughter? That you have the sister you've always wanted?"

Jazz blew out a breath. "For all intents and purposes, _yes_. Danny certainly seems to treat her that way. And she's definitely not a cousin." Silence, as if Jazz was trying to give her time to let that sink in—or give herself that time—but Maddie didn't think any amount of time would be _enough_ right now. She needed longer than she had. Still, she had enough time to be furious at Vlad, to be disgusted with herself, to feel for the little girl who'd never known her mother….

"But she might not just be a test tube baby, Mom, even with all the experimental science that went into accelerating her aging or making her a halfa." Jazz was fiddling with her fingers now, staring down at them as she knotted them together and broke free. "I just…. Vlad wouldn't want to leave her appearance up to chance. Even with the human genome mapped, I'm not sure he'd be able to pick and choose everything so precisely, not with all the genic interactions…." She broke off and looked up. "What if Vlad tried to clone Danny, but he got something wrong?"

"He got nothing _wrong_ ," Maddie said fiercely. "You know that as well as I do."

"That's not what I meant. There isn't anything wrong with Danielle. Just…."

"That part doesn't matter." Maddie got to her feet, her energy renewed. She had to do something. She had to _fix this_ , or at least try, just in case it wasn't beyond repair. If Danny hosted Phantom, _fine_. Danielle hosted a ghost, too, and that was also fine. That didn't make them not family. They'd figure it out, whatever figuring it out involved. "She is who she is. What matters is finding her and helping her. Giving her the home she never had, if she can stand to live with us after what I've done to her." She had no idea how she could even begin to atone for that. For any of what she'd done. "Jack will understand when we tell him." He'd take this all better than she had. And he hadn't done what she had, either. Even if she couldn't have a relationship with Danielle, maybe Jack could.

If Vlad hadn't already destroyed her trust in any father figure.

Jack was patient. He might be able to win her over. He'd certainly try.

Maddie just hoped it wasn't too late.

"We have Phantom's ecto-signature on file. I'll see what I can do to recalibrate the Booo-merang, to undo whatever Vlad's done." She knew their invention better than he did. Showing him their blueprints hadn't helped matters—he could easily make his own Booo-merang now, thanks to his photographic memory—but making something would slow him down. Even if Jazz's guesses as to Danielle's origins were wrong—or at least not entirely correct—she had no reason to think Jazz's intel on Vlad's connections within the Ghost Zone were incorrect. Not when Jazz knew so much more about all of this than Maddie did. Than she'd ever dreamed was possible.

She'd been blinded for too long.

She'd lived in darkness— _intentional darkness_ —for too long.

It was beyond time to break back into the light and make things right.

"I'll get the jet packs out for Sam and Tucker and then pack a few more things we might need for when we find Danny and Danielle." Jazz didn't say _if_ , and Maddie appreciated that. _When_. There was so much more hope with _when_. "We need to be prepared for anything."

"I know." She hadn't left Danielle in anything resembling a good condition, and Jazz was right: Danny wouldn't want to be found. Especially if he thought she was hunting them down to finish what she'd started. She only hoped she could find them and explain and apologize before it was too late.

She didn't expect forgiveness.

If it came, it would take time.

But she hoped they might give her a chance.

She hoped she hadn't destroyed their family forever.

She didn't want to think that she might have lost her son and the daughter she'd never known she'd had.

"I'll work as fast as I can." Time was slipping away from them. She'd waited too long already. She'd trusted Vlad, and he'd stalled her and sent Jack away on what might very well be a wild goose chase—or a trap. She should have trusted her kids instead. She should have trusted her gut. "I promise."

She was going to do everything she could. For Danny. For Danielle.

For her family.


End file.
